Challenge Filed Seeking to Disqualify Rep. Madison Cawthorn From Running For Congress Over Jan. 6 Support

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) is facing a challenge to his re-election campaign. The Associated Press reported that a group of North Carolina voters filed a candidacy challenge on Monday, seeking to bar Cawthorn from appearing on the ballot given his support of the Jan. 6th rioters at the U.S. Capitol.

“The voters contend that Cawthorn, who formally filed as a candidate for the 13th District seat last month, can’t run because he fails to comply with an amendment in the U.S. Constitution ratified shortly after the Civil War,” the AP reported.
The voters are citing an 1868 amendment that bars candidates “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress . . . to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”

The challenge will likely hinge on the State Board of Elections determining the exact nature of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and Cawthorn’s level of support of that event.

Ap notes that the challenge declares that the Jan. 6 riot “‘amounted to an insurrection” and that Cawthorn’s speech at the rally supporting President Donald Trump, his other comments and information in published reports provide a ‘reasonable suspicion or belief’ that he helped facilitate the insurrection and is thus disqualified.”

Cawthorn hit back on Twitter Monday, defiantly using the challenge as a call for fundraising.

“Left-wing activists are trying to stop me from fighting for YOU THE PEOPLE! I won’t be stopped. Help me fight back!,” Cawthorn tweeted with a link to donate.

Cawthorn handily won his seat in Congress in 2020, representing North Carolina’s 11th District. In 2022 he is running in North Carolina’s 13th District due to redistricting.